Charles Edward Conder was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western art.
Charles Conder
A holiday at Mentone, 1888. This painting featured on a 1984 Australian postage stamp.
How We Lost Poor Flossie (1889), one of Conder's 9 by 5s
Gordon Chambers, Flinders Lane, Melbourne, where Conder resided with Arthur Streeton and Charles Douglas Richardson
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has been described as Australian impressionism.
Arthur Streeton, Golden Summer, Eaglemont, 1889
Tom Roberts, Shearing the Rams, 1890
Buxton's Rooms, Swanston Street, site of the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition
The 9 by 5 catalogue, designed by Conder, shows a female as an allegory of art being unraveled from the bandages of 'Convention'. The exhibition's theme of transience is also symbolised by falling blossoms and a dragonfly, which in folklore lives only one day.